TAMPA SHIPBUILDING

On November 18, 2008, Edison Chouest Offshore officials appeared before the Tampa Port Authority in an effort to secure the assignment of Tampa Bay Shipbuilding and Repair’s long-term lease agreement with the port. The authority had no objection to the transfer and, on that date, Tampa Ship, LLC was born. Chouest assumed management and operation of the yard in early December.
The Tampa shipyard is a full service conversion, overhaul and repair facility that was previously owned by a group associated with Mobile, AL-based Bender Shipbuilding and Repair. The shipyard has been the only commercial shipyard equipped with four large graving docks (capable of servicing ships up to 150,000 DWT) and extensive crane facilities between Pascagoula, MS and Hampton Roads, VA.
“Tampa Ship provides us more capacity for new construction and the repair of much larger vessels,” said President Gary Chouest. “Now that we have closed on the purchase, we are looking forward to construction on our first new vessel this month.”
Although the shipyard specialized in recent years in performing repairs and overhauls, Chouest has agreed to assist in the phase out of a new construction deal with Bender. The previous owner has been building three large barges for Overseas Shipholding Group; Chouest will assist in completing that deal, slated for a late 2009 delivery.

Tampa Bay Shipbuilding & Repair Company announced the appointment of Walter J. Hartley Jr. (Joe) to the position of president and CEO.
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Hartley has an extensive background in the ship repair and conversion industry. His previous experience includes vice president at Atlantic Dry Dock in Jacksonville; president and CEO of Atlantic Marine in Mobile, Ala.; and president and CEO of S & H Land Corporation in Jacksonville.

Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Inc. and Tampa Bay Shipbuilding & Repair Company have promoted Michael Pinkham to Ship Repair Sales Manager for both the Mobile and Tampa yards. The Sales and Marketing Departments of both companies have been combined to more efficiently and economically service customer accounts. Pinkham brings his many years of ship repair sales, production and estimating experience to this position

Seabulk Towing is scheduled to christen the sister tugs Buccaneer and Gasparilla at its Tampa, Fla. facility on Thursday, January 24. Sponsors are Lorraine Gontarski, to christen tug Buccaneer on behalf of her husband, Joe Gontarski, who is Senior Director and special assistant to the Executive Director for Port Manatee and has served both the Port of Tampa and Port Manatee for over 30 years. The career of tug Gasparilla’s sponsor, Ms

Marine Towing of Tampa, LLC will host a private dedication ceremony on Thursday, June 12 to debut its new tugboat, Patriot, at Port Tampa Bay. The Patriot is one of the few tugboats in the United States with open ocean firefighting capabilities spraying nearly 12,000 gallons per minute at a distance of 400 feet.
Built in East Boothbay, Maine, the 93’ long, 5,000 horsepower tugboat equipped with two Tier 3 sixteen cylinder Caterpillar engines and two Rolls-Royce Z-drives will add to

There is a disturbing trend developing internationally that will surely be an agenda topping item for the International Maritime Organization in the coming year. At press time the Norwegian RoRo vessel Tampa, its crew of 27 and a reported 438 refugees — including 22 women and 43 children — was still in limbo.
On Sunday, August 26, 2001 in Indonesian territorial waters, Tampa received a call from the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) Australia asking it to rescue a fishing vessel in distress

Coast Guard personnel from Sector St. Petersburg, along with members from Port Manatee and Tampa Fire and Rescue, conducted a pollution-response exercise at the Port of Manatee in Palmetto, Fla., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.
The exercise was aimed at testing and improving the Coast Guard's ability to assemble, deploy and operate a Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System (VOSS). A VOSS is used to isolate and collect the spilled substance during or after a spill

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard (Oslo: AKPS), a leading U.S. commercial shipyard, delivered to American Shipping Company (Oslo: AMSC) the shipyard’s twelfth Veteran Class MT-46 product tanker. The 46,000 dwt vessel, named the Overseas Tampa, will leave the shipyard in the coming days under the operation of Overseas Shipping Group (OSG) to transport petroleum products.
The on schedule delivery of this ship marks the successful conclusion of a historic shipbuilding program that began in April

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rescued a 54-year-old man, who was suffering from medical issues while aboard a 655-foot freight ship approximately 150 miles southwest of Tampa, Wednesday.
At approximately 9:24 a.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., received notification from the ships agent that the master aboard a freight ship suffered a seizure while transiting to Brazil.
Watchstanders launched an aircrew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air

The new boat being built for the Virginia Pilots Association joins the increasing number of pilot boats powered by Volvo Penta IPS. The 55-ft. vessel, designed by C. Raymond Hunt Associates and built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, will run on twin D13 900 hp U.S

Gulfstream Shipbuilding welcomes James Murray, a second generation boat builder and operator/owner, to the Sales Management Team. James is the son of Jim Murray, who originally opened the shipyard 35 years ago as Freeport Shipbuilding. James built a variety of custom boats at the shipyard

Japanese shipyards are on the verge of overtaking Korean shipyards in remaining order backlogs and market share, reports Business Korea.
South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders recorded a backlog of 20.46 million CGT and 20.06 million CGT early this month, respectively

ARCOS Innovations Inc. is a new joint venture founded by members of SSI leadership and a senior SSI reseller with expertise in the implementation and development of enterprise systems for shipbuilding and offshore.
The mission of ARCOS is to help customers solve key business challenges

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is planning to stop taking new orders for large passenger ships, downsizing its shipbuilding operations due to a slump in orders, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.
The plans by Japan's fourth-largest shipbuilder come as new shipbuilding orders have

According to Reuters CBI Energy and Chemical (CB&I), a little known investment firm, plans to order up to 20 LNG carriers, in a deal worth up to US$3.8 billion – a huge prospect to South Korea’s beleaguered shipbuilding sector and a massive boost to the global LNG

The report by Global consulting company McKinsey & Company that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is least likely to survive among the big three shipbuilding companies has brought about strong opposition from DSME.

The Australian Government has appointed Professor Don Winter as the Chair of the newly established Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board.
Professor Winter is a former Secretary of the United States Navy, and has held senior executive positions in the private sector and in academia.

From 19 till 20 October 2016, top executives from major shipbuilders from Japan, Europe, China, South-Korea and the United States met in Gyeongju (South-Korea) in the context of the 25th JECKU, to discuss the industry’s challenges in supply and demand and in addressing regulatory matters.

HMS Ferries, Inc. has begin a passenger only ferry pilot project in the Tampa Bay, Fla. area, called the “Cross Bay Ferry.” The six-month pilot project was launched on November 1, 2016 and will connect the cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa, and end on May 1, 2017.

The tallest port crane in North America was recently raised to that height by ZPMC, which raised the crane 33 feet (10.08 meters) to prepare for Ultra-Large Container Vessels calling at APM Terminal’s Pier 400.
In a landmark project that kicked off July 1, 2016

These are difficult times for the shipbuilding industry, in particular that of Korea, which faces its worst-ever order drought. Big, medium-sized and small shipbuilders are undergoing deep restructuring as a consequence of the workload downturn